30. KW Griff featuring Pork Chop “Bring In The Katz”This guy REALLY wants to bring in the katz. We’re assuming the vocalist is Pork Chop, who sounds suspiciously similar to DJ Kool in “Let Me Clear My Throat” or Sagat in “Funk Dat.” The song begins with KW Griff’s new jack swing throwback beats, while Pork Chop assumes “they’re ready,” although after the katz are brought in, he retracts, saying it’s actually too much for them. Towards the middle, Pork Chop calls out those who “already know” what’s happening, including Miss Peaches and Kay Swift among many others. We have no idea who these people are, but apparently they know. But as listeners, do we know? By the time the song is over, we might know, but we also might not know. Perhaps one day, we will all know.
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29. Mr. Dream “Fatherland”Everything we want to say about “Fatherland” has pretty much already been said in our “Believing and Shitting” entry, but we’ll try our best. The vocal delay, stabbing guitar tones and dissonance are set in place here just as effectively as on the EP’s 5 other outstanding tracks, although Fatherland’s eponymous screamer is its only moment that could have been on Faith No More’s Angel Dust. Its vocal performance similarly combines the best elements of both John Lydon and Mike Patton, two of rock’s most confrontational and artistically challenging lead singers who have actually scored MTV hits. (“Rise” and “Epic,” respectfully.) While we're unsure what the lyrics are about, we've somehow associated the term “fatherland” with its prominent usage on In Living Color’s “Lassie ‘90” sketch. Any actual political connotations shot over our heads.
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28. Animal Collective “Today’s Supernatural”Centipede Hz is Animal Collective’s Back to the Future Part 2. The record presents an alternate version of what direction AC could’ve taken following 2005’s Feels and 2007’s Strawberry Jam. It still follows the “childhood memories drug flashback” theme that underlines their entire catalog, but takes it in a different direction than what evolved into 2009’s hugely acclaimed Merriweather Post Pavillion. MPP was hugely overrated, while Centipede is hugely underrated, splitting the difference of their relatively equal value. They’re both right around 8.7 out of 10. And we understand this to be a highly unpopular opinion, but if y’all don’t like it, y’all can bounce. Like seriously... We’re not sure how songs like "Today's Supernatural" or "Applesauce" are considered any worse than “Grass” or “Peacebone.” They're fucking awesome. GTFO with your bad attitudes.
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27. Solange “Losing You”We tend to favor songs with handclaps, although the claps in “Losing You” strangely do not encourage clapping along. A sample of a “female shriek” also appears in every measure, similar to the one in Janet Jackson’s “Alright.” The success of Solange’s EP seem far more reliant on those same pop elements that assisted Janet’s late-80’s output, as opposed to traditional R&B. It seems wrong to label “Losing You” (or Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange for that matter) as part of the current “movement” of “hipster-friendly R&B” described by SPIN and Pitchfork and like 500 other online music publications. We’re also noticing that Solange’s words are not especially deep, and the compelling nature of “Losing You” has more to do with her presence and Dev Hynes’ production. We hear Twin Peaks in the ominous synth outro (a TV show which premiered during the same era as Rhythm Nation 1814). Chill vibes.
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26. Cloud Nothings “Fall In”Remember in “Bart the Murderer” when Bart’s having a bad day and ends up stumbling down the stairs into Fat Tony’s “Legitimate Businessman’s Club?” The chorus of “Fall In” remind us of that cartoonish “stumbling” (the kind that doesn’t break anyone’s neck) with its strange beat placements and bizarre drum pattern. Even though it’s easy to place the beats during the verses and bridge, the “fall in, fall in” chorus still fucks with us every time. Dylan Baldi’s roughness and strain during the verses are present throughout the majority of Attack On Memory. But we hear its bridge section as the key to this song: “Nothing left for you to use” sung quietly and thus more affectingly than possibly any other section of the album, over four bars of sustained Cmaj7 chords. “Fall In” also never resolves to the dominant chord (if we’re hearing it correctly) suggesting a sense of frustration that accompanies the inability to accept lack of closure.
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25. Josh Homme “Nobody To Love”New Justin Timb, new Destiny’s Child, new My Bloody Valentine, new Pixies... Well that’s all fine and good, but news like this means nothing without confirmation that the songs will be worth hearing. If it’s been 5 years or longer, how can we be assured anymore? Between ’97 and 2007, the 10 volumes of Desert Sessions helped in satisfying Queens junkies between their 2-year album gaps. And so far, Desert Sessions tracks have been reinterpreted on every Queens album. (Them Crooked Vultures left us unimpressed in 2009. We’ve been told they were far more interesting live than on CD.) However, in Fall of 2012 a song credited to solo-Homme called “Nobody To Love” crept its way onto a few Youtube accounts. Its only authorized appearance was in the closing credits of some Hollywood movie called End of Watch. It's not included on the soundtrack CD, nor for purchase on iTunes or any free downloads from music blogs. Mysterious! Just what exactly is going on here? Well, call us crazy, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this were an early version of a song that’s slated to appear on the new Queens album. And if this one song is any indication, we should be pumped as fuck. Josh’s vocals sound just as cool as they ever did. That guttural, grimy bass line, and the sick bridge section... We miss Queens’ sick bridge sections. Get excited.
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24. Nicki Minaj “Come On A Cone”This is the one where Nicki Minaj sucks her own dick for three minutes, straight-up announcing mid-song “I’m not masturbatin’, but I’m feelin’ myself.” Yeah, no shit. Lame boasts need to be earned, but if anyone deserves them at the moment, Nicki is that chick. Over the past ten years, it wasn’t uncommon to hear of hiphop fans unable to respect the current state of the lamestream, recalling the days when workaholics like James Brown could be correctly regarded as “the hardest working man in show business.” But if there’s anything we’ve learned about weirdo starlets like Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga, it’s that they’ve worked incredibly hard to achieve their status. So anyway... Forget everything we just said, because this song is so fucking bizarre that it literally could have been about any topic and still would’ve landed in our top 30. As if the sweetly sung “dick in your face, put my dick in your face, e-yea” on its own wasn’t enough. If Roman Reloaded had been trimmed of all the crap, reduced to its 10-12 best jams, we would be re-considering album of the year.
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23. Grass Is Green “Somebody’s Something”Grass Is Green throws a curveball with a song that mentions throwing a baseball. Coincidence? Arguably the centerpiece of Ronson, the uncharacteristically spacious ballad “Somebody’s Something” may be one of those somber “key to the album” moments we’ve noticed on other third albums over the past decade. It’s never intentional, but The Strokes’ “Ask Me Anything” and No Age’s “Common Heat” are among our favorite examples. (“How Near How Far” from Trail of Dead’s third album is a more sonically apt musical comparison, and one of our favorite songs ever, but not quite as spacious or any more solemn than the rest of Source Tags and Codes.) The unexpected space hides its complexities, deceivingly presenting itself as less bizarre and more straightforward than the rest of Ronson. (After dozens of listens, we still haven’t figured out where the measures or time-signature would be placed.) This also may be the song where Alex Prieto’s engineering is at its most vulnerable, displaying a successful evasion of excessive digital gloss heard too often from rock albums in the 2010's, especially from those recently tagged as "90’s-revivalists" like Yuck, Metz and The Men. Ronson instead opts for an analog-sounding production value more congruent with Unwound, Drive Like Jehu or Polvo, made all the more surprising by its pairing with progressively modern songwriting.
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22. Big Freedia “Booty-Whop”“BENDITOVERBENDITOVERBENDITOVER.” Nothing in this great big world seems to make Big Freedia happier than a club (or basement, or college dorm) full of party animals (usually chicks) bent over at the waste and waving their huge asses up in the air, with the option of cheek slaps, either from the bender or by a close friend or loved one. Azz everywhere. You know like when the skin jiggles and there’s a wave and it goes “blub blub blub.” That visual is emulated throughout “Booty-Whop.” The relentless excitement of this song turned out to be unexpectedly addictive. In one specific moment, Big Freedia sings “whoaaaa-oa” and then later in the song, the exact off-pitch “whoaaaa-oa” appears a second time, fun as fuck for singing along. In our humble opinions, this is the defining moment in Freedia’s huge catalog of bangers. P.S. HUGE GOOD NEWS: Big Freedia reality show coming soon. (The bad news: It's on Fuse.)
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21. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Mature Themes”Dan Fogelberg's bad acid trip. Attention to detail appears in elements like the Moog synths, and especially the subtly abrupt fadeout, fitting the song within 2:50 and securing rotation on bizarro AM stations circa 1976. The album lays out its paradoxes more plainly than on 2010’s Before Today. The title track of Mature Themes is sung with an especially silly rhythm, while the themes within his self-referential lyrics are notably less-than-silly. He refers to his age, 35, and his height, 5’4, so he's probably referring to himself. He says “I want it to be true,” but at this point, will Ariel Pink ever be able to display absolute sincerity? This justifies his revivalist nature, borrowing the sounds and spirit of earnest mid-70’s singer-songwriters to say the opposite of what everyone assumes he’s saying, flipping the irony backwards. A sort of reverse meta-irony is his only remaining option for speaking his mind, so that he can mask his honesty. He’s actually not kidding when he sings “I want it to be good” over and over again. “Good,” the most general positive adjective that exists. Not “great” or “amazing.” He knows he can’t provide such things right now. But he can at least strive for “good.”
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Monday, January 21, 2013

We wish this was finished. The hell that OCD puts us through is so uncool. We just don't want to do this anymore. We want to play videogames. We want to watch SVU. We want to smoke pounds of weed and do nothing on a Sunday night. But we can't. Instead, we do Hot Mix 2012. Because we are slaves within our own bodies. No control whatsoever. Someone please help. This is torture. The writing in these blurbs isn't even good. It's downright embarrassing. God, make it stop. Please.

40. Japandroids “The House That Heaven Built”“They’re old stuff is better” is a subjective statement typically associated with too-cool-for-school “hipster” types. However, our extreme devotion to Japandroids’ 2009 LP Post-Nothing and the three non-album singles that followed in 2010 were destined to lead us to slight disappointment. One of those three a-sides (“Younger Us”) appears on their 2012 LP Celebration Rock, and it’s still our favorite song on this album. We may be alone in assessing it as a slight drop in quality. Post-Nothing and those 3 singles were all recorded in 2008/2009, when Brian and David had no clue that their band might become their full-time job. The resulting effortlessness shone in moments such as the lazy sludge-jam “Crazy/Forever,” which repeats the same 2 lines of lyrics over and over for six minutes, and the urgent vocal delivery in “Sovereignty.” “It’s raining in Vancouver, and I don’t give a fuck, ‘cause I’m far from home tonight." Youth is effortless. Being in love is effortless. Being alive is effortless. Celebration Rock still exudes these same ideas, except their flow has been supplanted by earnest heavy-handedness. But despite our super-fan opinions, Japandroids may have cornered the market for the critical consensus of “rock single of the year” with “The House that Heaven Built,” a song that sounds way more like an emo-grunge version of The Arcade Fire than anything they’ve released so far. And besides, the album is still full of great songs, with “The House that Heaven Built” specifically containing probably the most quotably awesome chorus of the year. Expect its arrival in more than a few high school yearbooks come June 2013.The House That Heaven Built by Japandroids

39. Todd Terje “Inspector Norse”Post-high school teens who like Cut Copy and Robyn and 80’s dance shit are into this song (apparently) as we learned not long ago when some kids who fit this description kept us up very late listening to jams such as these. From the floor above, we could decipher that one teen wasn’t into "Inspector Norse" as much as the rest, and switched it to a different song, leading 3 or 4 kids to immediately shout things over the 2-second silence such as “awww” and “heyyy” and “what the fuuuuck,” bummed out that their jam had been vetoed. “Inspector Norse” isn't a radio hit per se, but at least certain pockets of youth culture are enjoying it. Like Caribou’s “Sun” from a couple years back, it reminds us of the type of jams that used to be on MTV’s Amp. We love the bridge section’s towering largeness compared to the playfulness of the returning theme-section that follows. The song continues for over 6 minutes, but could have been just as effective stretched-out for twice that length.
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38. Red Dwarf “Magic Missile”The catchiness, the angular tension, the gratuitous profanity, and the scream-along choruses on Red Dwarf’s lone full length - a posthumous 22-song release titled Tell Your Parents You Want Ballz This Christmas - found its way under our skin during the Spring of 2012, unfortunately not long after witnessing one of their final few shows. It’s been years since we’ve discovered a band able to use sloppiness to such grand effect, while simultaneously jam-packing so many earworms into such an enormous sprawling collection. Despite the number of songs, nothing whatsoever about Red Dwarf suggests “trying too hard,” a huge component of what makes them so compelling. “Magic Missile” (the song we used to refer to as “that one with the cool harmonics”) turned out to be the earworm that got stuck most often. Ultimately, we ended up preferring the 2011 EP’s version because of the delivery of the word “fuck” during the breakdown section. Also, they’re yet another band (like those mentioned in our Hooking Up blurb) who got us psyched but then ultimately split before the year’s end. In this case however, an intense light at the end of the tunnel is shone by Butter The Children, a similarly aggressive, far dreamier and more pop-based quartet formed by two of Red Dwarf’s members over the past year. Signs are pointing towards their 2013 full-length as among our most anticipated releases.Magic Missile by RED DWARF

37. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead “Bright Young Things”This is probably not the case, but have these guys been listening to Isn’t Anything? We hear the punch from some of those 80’s My Bloody Valentine tracks like “Feed Me With Your Kiss” or “Nothing Much To Lose” covered by Zen Arcade-era Husker Du. “Bright Young Things” and the majority of Lost Songs are probably their best shit since 2003’s “Crowning of a Heart” (and more in tune with the sound of that era than anything they’ve released since). It’s great to hear that they’ve been able to tap back into the artistic explosions heard on their first three albums. We know they have more new awesome songs like this waiting to be unleashed. Trail of Dead is back. Praise the lord.
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36. King Tuff “Swamp of Love”Imagine Marc Bolan reincarnated, except entirely American, and without the devoted following of teenagers, and slightly more introverted. This is what a lot of King Tuff’s self-titled sounded like to us. Unsung highlight “Swamp of Love” executes some of the same relaxed perfectionism heard on The Slider - going as far as to include spot-on Flo & Eddie style backing vocals – and injecting a personalized center that’s entirely Kyle Thomas. T.Rex is one of those bands like Nirvana that hundreds-of-thousands have unsuccessfully attempted to emulate, unable to realize that guys like Bolan and Cobain were skilled experts at writing the types of songs that made it sound like anyone could do it. King Tuff is the first band since Burning Brides (whose last good release was about 10 years ago) to get our attention by actually matching the serious skills of one of his most obvious influences. “Swamp of Love” got our attention for being this album’s grandest statement, building and climaxing at all the perfect moments. Bolan would have approved.
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35. Tame Impala “Keep On Lying”Sounds like someone tried to make a radio edit out of one of those psychedelic 60’s jams that took up an entire album side, like “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” or probably something by Vanilla Fudge, except the edits didn’t fall in the most expected radio-friendly places. It fades in only two minutes before the solo section (the part of the song everyone wants to hear anyway) and then fading out almost immediately after the singing section returns. The crucial vocal parts not only establish the catchy vocal melody, but also plainly establish the theme, stating the frustration and guilt that coincides with a relationship built around lies, destined to crumble. The psych-out section then slowly progresses under a bizarre dominant laugh-track. It’s not like when Janet Jackson giggles or the creepy belly-laughs on Dark Side of the Moon. As they appear between bits of whispered inaudible conversation, it becomes fittingly difficult to determine whether these laughs are genuine. A climax arrives around the 4-minute mark when a second unexpected guitar solo appears, suspiciously similar to the cathartic back-and-forth stabs heard from John Lennon’s solo in “Yer Blues.” All the while, the laughter and conversation persist, confusion and guilt continue building... It’s only a matter of time.
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34. Kitty Pryde “Okay Cupid”Remove oneself from the idea that “Okay Cupid” is “rap” or “hiphop” but instead exists in and of itself. The sample sounds like one of the warped and possibly backwards-spun outro sections from Loveless, trippy as hell, and truly unique within this context. The non-dancey-sounding drums exist only to establish a sense of rhythm, which is then (seemingly) ignored by Kitty Pryde, who chooses a vocal-rhythm that might just barely line-up. Her style of “rapping” isn't really comparable to anyone else we've heard in the past. Her voice, dialect, delivery and the song’s subject matter work wonders to piss off purists unable to fathom the idea of the blogosphere’s brief infatuation with something that’s actually fresh and different. Yeah, she sounds like a privileged, suburban, millennial, materialistic valley chick. But we don't think it's really HER. We think she's playing a character (since in a different song called "Justin Bieber," she claims to be a 13-year-old, when in reality she's actually surpassed voting age). Her shockingly effective delivery arrives with an unexpected layer of depth thanks to her soft-spoken demeanor. Her immature, childish and carefree words are not in touch with the obnoxiousness that many female rappers tend to use as a crutch for attention, while the trippiness of her sample-choices suggest buried self-awareness. She may not yet know how smart she is. P.S. People got pissed about Kitty Pryde because cute chicks with freckles aren't supposed to get people's attention through music, or something. This took place for about two weeks in May of 2012. By September, she was pretty much forgotten. So no harm done. Her haters jumped the gun. Take a chill pill.okay cupid by ♡kitty♡

33. Batcave “Stereovision”Another band we were lucky enough to catch only weeks before their last performance, Batcave’s sparse gothic-punk stood out for us the most after hearing the crunching dissonance in the opening chords of “Stereovision.” We’re not sure if their normal lineup included a dude who just stood there shaking things, but he was there for this show. Also they possibly pushed each other over at the end of the set. At any rate, we were bummed as hell to learn of their split not long afterwards. Up the upside, they stuck together long enough to grace us all with one of the year’s best releases.stereovision by batcave

32. Miguel “Gravity”2012 kicked ass because it’s finally looking like some newer and far more talented singers are arriving who can finally push douchebags like Chris Brown out of the spotlight. We were also happy to notice an upsurge of non-album tracks filling up this year’s Hot Mix. We didn’t expect any of these to be from R&B geniuses, and yet here we are. Miguel kicked off the year with a series of 3 mini-mixtapes titled Art Dealer Chic, Volumes 1, 2 and 3. Volume 1 concluded with “Gravity,” one of his grooviest and grittiest sex-jams, and probably his most immediately enjoyable head-nodding intro section, as opposed the majority of the Kaleidoscope Dream LP’s grower-tracks that start to sound their best around the 15-20th listen. In this respect, “Gravity” was best left as a standalone jam, although it’s a shame that more people won’t get to hear it. (Edit: Turns out “Gravity” actually was included on the CD, but it was only available on a limited-edition version that you had to buy at Target or something. LAME.)Gravity by Miguel

31. Toro Y Moi “So Many Details”Did anything else from this album get released yet? Would it be out of line to label this as Toro Y Moi’s best song to date? It’s gotten us psyched as hell to hear the rest of his new stuff. “So Many Details” is probably the best single from the “chillwave” subgenre since Neon Indian’s last LP. We’re not even sure if anyone refers to this type of music as “chillwave” anymore, but from what we can recall, it started getting heavily recognized around the summer of 2009 as dudes and chicks who record by themselves exclusively using analog recording technology. Three years later, analog is probably more commonplace and less bizarre than it used to seem. If it exists as an option, why not use it? Why should it have to be condemned simply because of nostalgic fashion-dummies giving it a bad name? It still provides the same refreshing sense of warmth not heard within digital technology. And plus, it's hugely affordable. 6-packs of cassettes are still available at CVS for under $5. Analog also provides no risk of hard-drive failure. It’s a simpler medium that’s easier to salvage. “A look back on simpler times” is an unfortunate common underlining theme of hipster preference, but sometimes the canvas looks better within a different medium.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Savage Young Taterbug might not remember our meeting, but he responded "You're fucked" after I said I hadn't yet seen Toy Story which is the movie he used to choose the color for his painters-style jumpsuit that he chose as his official outfit for the month. He may have switched to his new one by now. Also a couple years ago, he traded my friend his awesome noise tape "Theme For Gasoline Weirdo" (available now on Night-People) for a pair of socks, to which he later replied "Those socks were crucial." Iowa City is magic. Do not fuck with Iowa City.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

50. Spree Wilson “Right One, Wrong Time”The summery hits of Ghost Town DJ’s, INOJ and KP & Envyi are among over most very favorite jams that have ever existed. Spree Wilson’s forthcoming Life in Technicolor EP is the only release we can recall within the past 10 years specifically citing these as an influence, and if “Right One, Wrong Time” is any indication, the others will be sounding authentic as fuck. The lyrics match this tone perfectly, and not by including kitchy 1997-centric phrases like “raise the roof” or “talk to the hand,” but rather by opting for a more heartfelt form of nostalgia, recalling moments when we simply weren’t prepared for a huge opportunity and recalling the past with bittersweet regret. If Amerie’s “Why R U?” from 2009 or Kanye’s Bieber/Wu-Tang mashup from 2010 have been any indication, songs like those on Life in Technicolor stand no chance whatsoever of charting, an unfortunate fate for one our favorite new dance artists of 2012. Perhaps the EP’s remaining 2 or 3 unleaked jams will yield irresistibly melodic catchiness. We can only hope.
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49. R. Kelly “When A Man Lies”R. Kelly's been bad. He's not proud of it, and he's having some trouble training himself to break his bad habits. But at least he can try to warn others of falling into the trap. “I’m just tellin’ the truth.” The subject of “trust” and “Truth” is nothing new in the world of R&B, but no one’s lying to themselves by admitting how hard he kills the vocal performance here, on a deep album track of all places. (We're pretty sure this isn't a radio single.) Discovered in the lower portion of Charles Aaron’s “Top 40 Songs of 2012” for SPIN, "When a Man Lies" is a great example of the "classic" sounding R&B jams that somehow creep their way into our Hot Mix year after year, like last year's Jill Scott/Anthony Hamilton inclusion, or various tracks from Ne-Yo since 2007. Editorials from SPIN or Pitchfork labeling 2012 as a banner year for R&B aren’t far off the mark, although it’s not like this genre’s had nothing of merit from the past five years. Great songs like "When a Man Lies" aren't going anywhere.
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48. Broken Water “Coming Down”If there's a song on Tempest that removes any doubt of Broken Water’s admiration of Sonic Youth, “Coming Down” is that jam. Previous recordings might not have made this as obvious, but this time around, vocals and guitar tones are distinctly influenced by Thurston Moore, although the theme and subject matter appear to be more direct and human than most of SY’s themes. The vocals are buried, although the lyric “fuckin’ up everything I touch” rises to the surface. Frustration builds throughout the song, which becomes more unbearable as the song progressives into one of the most effective usages of a stretched-out crescendo since Pulp’s “Common People.”
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47. The Antlers “Zelda”Calm, alone, in a cage, on antibiotics. The gradual build of layers in “Zelda” seems very simple at first, but as the small floating dot ascends closer, it reveals itself to be a somewhat monsterous and freakishly gorgeous (or gorgeously freakish) wonder of complexities. We took a field trip last September to a church temple where The Antlers performed this song (and several others) which is probably the best possible type of venue for these guys. Huge dark rooms filled with bibles and Christian imagery - pretty much the perfect setting for these types of bands. We know a lot of fans hugely rep for Hospice, but the Undersea EP is their best shit so far, and good enough to get us VERY excited for what they might have in store for 2013.
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46. Mac Demarco “Robson Girl”While the vague minimalist lyrics in “Robson Girl” suggest an intentionally cryptic message, its music seems far more direct. A screaming chaotic guitar solo lies in the center of this jam, but without the intense distortion that would be typical on a song from Nirvana or Spoon. It’s not so much a cathartic release, but instead it’s more of a “shaking my head” type of moment. A youtube comment describes “Robson” as a high-end shopping and entertainment district in Vancouver, although it seems like Mac Demarco’s subject is closer to the girl John Lennon sang about in “Girl” than the subject of “Uptown Girl” or “Gangnam Style.” Another possible key to opening this song appears during its fadeout when Demarco’s voice says “that’s a wrap” with a tone similar to Slaughterhouse Five's “so it goes.” We believe this was placed in the song purposely, not as an afterthought but rather to suggest the acceptance of “it’s over,” or “giving up,” or “nothing more can be done to remedy this situation.”
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45. Beak> “Ladies Mile”
In case you guys missed it, the Mars Rover just tweeted yesterday that “Ladies Mile” is one of his favorite songs to listen to while perusing, observing and reporting those mysterious foreign landscapes. Beak> heard of this news and just finished recording a 6-hour long remix to be played at the Rover on repeat for the next two years. Ladies' Mile by BEAK>

44. Dinosaur Jr “Recognition”Most of what we could say about “Recognition” was already stated in our blurb for “Rude,” the other Lou Barlow song from I Bet On Sky. We’re about 99.8% positive that no one from Dinosaur Jr will ever read this, so it probably wouldn’t be so horrible to admit that two of our three favorite songs from this album were the Barlow tracks, with the third song being the jammy closing track “See It On Your Side.” Also in the department of “filler info” (info that mostly exists to fill up the blurb so that the picture to the right can fit un-awkwardly), we were informed that Mascis normally enjoys front-loading Dinosaur albums, placing his favorites on Side A, which we found interesting since two of our 3 favorite songs were tracks 9 and 10. Patchiness aside, they’re not only one of the best bands in the world right now, but also among the best EVER. Top 20, at least. And we’re psyched as hell that their reunion has lasted this long, hopefully continuing even further into the future.
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43. Miguel “Do You...”Originally titled “Drugs,” a bummer “radio version” was recently altered to say “do you like love?” SO LAME. Once upon a time, Huey Lewis was allowed to sing “I Want A New Drug” on MTV and radio and have it convey the exact same message. Love is the drug. What’s so hard for people to understand? “Have you ever felt alone? Do you still believe in love?” Obviously this guy’s singing about smoking crack, popping pills and shooting smack. I mean obviously. Let’s censor the fuck out of probably the sweetest love song of 2012 because some dumb Christian-right douchebag might hear it and complain that his dumbass wife will get the wrong message. At least “Do you like hugs?” was left intact. (P.S. The lyric “Do you like hugs” rules so super hard.) Awesome video too. We’re psyched as hell that it’s actually getting airplay on VH1, although bummed it hasn't been charting as well as “Adorn.” Combining 80’s synth-guitar with Timbaland-style drumbeats. "I'm gonna do you like drugs tonight" conflicts with that line from Trainspotting where the chick claims her heroin is "better than any fucking cock in the world," so clearly Miguel has some serious magic action to attend. This shit is so perfect. We love Miguel.
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42. Jai Paul “Jasmine (Demo)”Up until the blogs and publications reveal their year-end results, we really have no clue what songs are considered critics’ favorites. “Jasmine” is apparently this type of jam, which took us by surprise if only because this mysterious Jai Paul dude has a discography that currently contains only two songs released over the span of three years, although the murkiness and depth of this song yields more space and infectiousness than most bands are able to cram into a 40-minute full length. At first we heard “Jasmine” as an R&B version of Junior Boys with an “accidentally” catchy vocal melody submerged DEEP, with sick usage of handclaps as an added bonus. Around the 12th or 15th listen, we started hearing this as the hangover from a super-dark all-night coke session. Back in 2009, Cosmic Hearse posted the Wicked Witch album by labeling it as “pure uncut cocaine porno funk... sleazy compositions tweaked way past anything recognizable into a disjointed haze of freebase smoke...” We want “Jasmine” to be like this - an effortless accident - like Jai Paul woke up the next morning with no memory of recording any of this, even though in reality it was a meticulously crafted labor of love that probably took a few months to complete. And keep in mind this is merely the “demo” version. Has the definitive version been released yet?
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41. A$AP Rocky featuring 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar & Drake “Fuckin’ Problems”Regarding what’s hot on the streets and what the world is feeling RIGHT FUCKING NOW, it would not at all be out of the question to label “Fuckin’ Problems” as the definitive rap jam of the moment, totally encapsulating everything that rules about modern hiphop as of January 2013 (a radio jam perfect for bouncing along during long car rides, a badass singalong chorus with the word “fuck” in it) while dishing a heaping dose of everything that completely sucks about modern hiphop (lame boasts, fake-authenticity, Drake). While it’s a slight bummer that 2 Chainz didn’t receive a verse, Kendrick’s slightly squeezed-in closing statement exudes head-nodding freshness. It’s not exactly on par with the last verse of “Mo Money Mo Problems,” but still coming closer than any other radio single of 2012.
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

60. Ryan Power “I Don’t Want to Die” Is this ridiculous or genius or both? Similar to Ariel Pink in sonically paralleling the intricacies of AM Gold singer-songwriters, Ryan Power structurally ups the ante, approaching from more of a theme-and-variation standpoint than verse-chorus. His A section is followed by a B section, but the next time A and B appear they arrive with unexpected appendages and attachments, transforming into alternate C, D, E and F sections before returning back to the original intro run…. If that makes any sense. So yeah, I guess THIS could technically be considered “progressive” (a term often misused in 2012 rock journalism) although what makes it interesting has more to do with delicate tone and texture, as well as a string of surprisingly catchy vocal melodies that could just as easily have filled an entire album’s worth of songs in the hands of a different writer.
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59. Odd Future “Oldie”Earl Sweatshirt’s first appearance in nearly two years still generates smiles. We don’t think it would be out of the question to label “Oldie” as an “event” type of song, coupling the context of Earl’s exhumation with the largeness of the song itself, which somehow actually sustains itself as exciting over the course of its nearly 11 minutes. Playfulness wasn’t normally as prevalent in noteworthy hiphop prior to 2012, although Action Bronson and Joey Bada$$ have been lending a hand in this area. “Oldie” fits into this category as well, which is both its strongest and most perplexing attribute – perplexing because of the lyrical contrast with Tyler The Creator’s curiously ominous choice of beat. While we were prepared to label Jasper Dolphin’s unfortunate insertion (between two relatively giant names, Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt of all people) as a low-point, it’s actually the song’s most obviously playful and “who gives a fuck” moment. This is the real Odd Future: the Wolf Gang we’ve been waiting for.
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58. Jason Lytle “Your Final Setting Sun”We seem to recall last Spring when web-announcements of a Grandaddy reunion album were floating around. Perhaps these were rumors? Maybe they’re just taking their time... If it’s not happening, then we’re assuming Jason Lytle’s Dept. of Disappearance was intended for new Grandaddy. But if it’s simply taking longer than expected, then tracks like the outstanding “Your Final Setting Sun” (his best since 2003’s Sumday) are a very good indication that they’ve been up to no good, brewing some serious-ass Sophtware Slump-style awesomeness. We miss the weirdo robot noises and bizarro arrangements. Hoping these guys come back very soon.
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57. Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe”Tagged by millions as the most colossal megaton chorus since “Since U Been Gone,” which is possibly accurate. But what about the verses? Does “Call Me Maybe” have verses? Upon relistening, the answer seems to be “yes,” although they are largely forgotten by 99% of the people who know of this song’s existence. This is because the writers discovered an awesome hook and then formed the other song-related elements entirely around it, instead of crafting it into something that sounds complete, an unfortunately wasted opportunity to create some magic because the music-biz CEO’s were all like “this needs to be released now, we need a hit so I can get my kids on My Super Sweet 16.” But while it’s a still hugely overrated as a whole, the chorus is too perfect to not be recognized among the year’s best.
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56. Bruno Mars “Treasure”As the market for “nostalgia” increases in largeness with every passing year, it becomes more inevitable to notice a few borrowed ideas getting used to create something that’s actually fresh, instead of simply repackaging the same shit with a glossier exterior. When we saw Bruno Mars’ recent album described as “10 songs that sound like 10 different 80’s bands,” we were mostly skeptical since this same guy was responsible for our worst song of 2011, as well as three other appearances in our “worst songs” list since the start of this decade. We’ll be the first to admit when a shit artist surprisingly steps up their game; we just had no idea that it would be Bruno Fucking Mars of all people. But it happened! Unorthodox Jukebox is shockingly not horrible! In fact, it’s actually somewhat listenable as a whole, with his “X-Factor contestant” vocal-style as the album’s only true turn-off. However, within the context of “Treasure,” his singing style actually fits. We doubt “Treasure” has any chance of getting radio airplay, although we might have thought the same about “Locked Out of Heaven” which has turned into somewhat of a mega-hit in the past 3 months, so who knows? “Treasure” pulls more directly from the late-90’s and early-2000’s version of disco-nostalgia. More than half of Jamiroquai’s catalog is based around this idea. Britney Spears also tried this out in 2001 on one of our favorites of hers, the album track “Anticipating.” So yeah, somehow Bruno Mars actually put out a bunch of songs that don’t completely suck. No one’s more surprised than we are.
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55. Tame Impala “Elephant”Eat dem drugs all day err day. “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” That moment when the simple experience of enjoyment ascends into “balls tripping holy fucking shit” territory, a.k.a. when “Elephant” switches from the vocal section to the psychedelic guitar jam, a.k.a. when baby Dumbo gets drunk by accident with the mouse dude and they see all the purple elephants dancing around. Afterwards, the outro section includes the final drum fill and “yeah!” followed by the abrupt cold ending, when you suddenly come down with no memory of what just transpired.
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54. Mr. Dream “Believing and Shitting”Thanks to meticulous attention to detail in the mixing, mastering and songwriting-structure on Mr. Dream’s “Fatherland” EP, it wouldn’t be entirely difficult to confuse this record with an authentic lost 1979 punk relic buried deep within John Peel’s vast collection. We’re psyched as hell that any NYC bands are still interested in playing this kind of music while still writing songs that are entirely worthy of attention. Taking cues from PiL, Stooges and Big Black with a hint of Wolfy Mozart in the song’s title, well-paced side 2 opener “Believing and Shitting” packs the same urgency as that which is normally associated with late-decade or pre-millennial or pre-apocalypse tension (“everyone knows it’s the end”) concluding with a mysterious open-ended coda section.
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53. Frank Ocean “Lost”“Lost” might be more of a continuation of nostalgia,ULTRA than the rest of Frank’s newer stuff, both in sound and theme, creating a trifecta of sorts with “Novacane” and “Swim Good” which we believe to be among his most drug-influenced and earwormy singles to date. All three express a desire to break away, or in this case, “get lost” in the moment. We’re not sure if Channel Orange was meant to express a flowing narrative in the same way as good kid, M.A.A.D. city, but it raises our suspicions when it appears after "Pyramids," which already appeared after two songs about class separation, “Sweet Life” and “Super Rich Kids.”
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52. Pile “Prom Song”Sometimes the long-distance runner is on a shit-ton of speed pills. Dripping’s sequencing suggests meticulous planning, starting and finishing strongly. An intense momentum especially builds during one of the most ass-kicking 4-song middle sections in recent memory, with “Prom Song” as its crowning moment. After “Grunt like a Pig” concludes the intense chase sequence, “Prom Song” starts with the “peaceful sunrise” intro segueing into a pummeling guitar riff, complimented perfectly by the sparse rhythm section. Pile’s signature tension-building leads them to one of the year’s best and most soulful guitar solos, played from atop an especially gigantic mountain. From up above, long-bearded God obliges, throwing up the devil-horns as he rides his chopper across the sky desert. Prom Song by Pile

51. Kendrick Lamar “Swimming Pools (Drank)”“Drinking songs” have a surprisingly wide spectrum of categories, a fact that only occurred to us after hearing “Swimming Pools.” Kendrick’s meditation might appear alongside Hank Williams jams or Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” exploring the psychological aspects of self-medication. On the opposite side of this spectrum, one might find soulless frat-douchiness such as Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup,” or songs exploring freedom from stress and enjoyment-of-life, an effort to forget problems with fun instead of depressingly drowning out our sorrows, in songs such as Andrew WK’s “Party Til You Puke.” Kendrick’s sped-up soliloquy in the second verse (which we didn’t realize was him at first) pushes this exploration to an even deeper level.
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what's it?

TASTE MY KIDS compiles recommendations for a happier and healthier existence, most often in the form of "best-of" lists, youtube posts, album or movie reviews, and various scribblings. We lived on Geocities starting in August 2000. In January 2009, times got tough and posts were on hiatus until a new host could be located. Geocities eventually died anyway, and now we live on blogspot. True story.